People are being urged to work from home as the latest wave of COVID hits, but without mandates the decision is up to individual workplaces.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions is urging workplaces to allow working from home wherever possible, in an effort to help protect healthcare workers and hospitals which are under severe pressure.
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly echoed a similar sentiment last week, saying that businesses should allow employees to work from home if feasible.
Despite this, there are no mandates currently in place and so the decision ultimately falls to individual workplaces and businesses.
A third of aged care facilities hit with COVID
Thousands of staff and residents of aged care facilities across Australia are infected with COVID-19.
With a third of facilities hit nationally, providers are calling for urgent action, hoping to protect staff and residents from further infections.
Late last week, the Aged and Community Care Providers Association had reported six thousand residents and over three thousand staff as infected with COVID.
Interim chief of the association, Paul Sadler, is calling for a surge workforce to help support facilities during this wave, including Australian Defence Force personnel.
Mr Sadler said that while this was a short-term solution, the federal government should look to the reforms recommended by the recent royal commission into aged care for longer term fixes.
Victorians without third dose loom large in COVID deaths
Victorians who did not receive a third vaccine dose made up SEVENTY-TWO percent of COVID deaths this year, according to newly released mortality data.
University of Melbourne epidemiologist Tony Blakely said the data showed a person having one or more doses of a COVID-19 vaccine reduced their chance of dying by 93 per cent.
For people with three or four doses, protection will be even higher than that.
The data also showed that one-third of Victorians who died of COVID-19 were unvaccinated.
Victorian numbers
Across Victoria over 68 percent of people aged 12 years and older are now up to date with three
COVID-19 vaccination doses, while over 94 percent have received two doses.
In addition, almost 57 percent of children aged five to 11 years in the state have now received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine.
Victoria has recorded over ten thousand (10,261) new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 with zero lives lost.
Health Message
People who received a second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine more than three months ago, are now due for the next dose.
For people aged 65 and over, and those who are severely immunocompromised, or people who have complex, chronic or severe conditions that increase their risk of becoming very sick from
COVID-19, an additional winter booster dose is also available and recommended.
Compiled by the National Ethnic and Multicultural Broadcaster’s Council (NEMBC) Multilingual News Service.
The Indian Sun acknowledges the support of the Victorian Government.
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